Never Tickle Santa's Reindeer
by Shavynel
Summary: Full moon falls on Christmas, and Remus is definitely not in the Christmas spirit. The Marauders work hard to get him smiling again. Fluff.


Remus had been laying with his eyes open for at least an hour. He didn't feel much like moving even though today was a joyous day. Christmas morning. He had already heard a couple first years shrieking with delight at their new presents, as well as a couple explosions, and he supposed that he, too, would have nice gifts to open beneath the tree, but there was one thing that had overshadowed the entire Yule time celebration for him this year: the moon.

It had been more than two years since he had to undergo the transformations without his friends, but the fact of the matter was that he would be spending his seventh and final Christmas Feast in the Shrieking Shack. His fellow Marauders had agreed to spend their time with him, but he was still bitter. The Christmas Feast was perhaps the greatest, or at least most festive, feast Hogwarts threw each year, and in previous years, Remus had looked forward to it. It was one of his favorite times of the year. This year, however, every time Remus heard the phrase, "Merry Christmas!" he wanted to turn around and snarl. Of course, he didn't. He remained friendly, but his friends could tell that he was not in the best of spirits.

A customary thunk and scramble came from across the room. Remus looked over to see that Sirius was no longer snoring in his bed.

"Presents!" Sirius shouted, and figuring as _he_ had fallen out of bed, he decided that it was best that everyone else in the room did too. One by one, Sirius flipped occupants out of their beds, except when he reached Remus's bed, Remus hung onto his mattress and face-planted on the ground instead of rolling away. In retrospect, Remus's nose thought that was the worst idea he had all year. "Moony, if you don't crawl out from under there by the count of three, I'm going to drag you on your face until you have rug burns even Madam Pomfrey can't wish away. One. Two."

There was a pause after 'two,' during which the door opened and Remus heard quite a bit of shuffling and a little muttering. None of this, however, made him feel more inclined to get out from under his mattress.

"You don't really want me to say it do you? I don't actually want to give you rug burns, you know. Oh. Okay. _Fine_. "

But instead of an emphatic 'three,' Remus felt the mattress lift off of him. Arms grabbed him - two under the armpits and two on his legs - and threw him out the door. Instead of hitting the railings and tumbling down the stairs, though, he found himself on a sled. This had barely registered when the sled hit the bottom. Instead of flattening out, it stopped, sending Remus rolling across the floor - well, snow.

Dizzy, he closed his eyes, and laid back in the magicked snow. It was a good effort; he would give them that much.

Something glowed red beyond his eyelids. This was followed by something hard nudging his shoulder. Grudgingly, Remus opened his eyes and found himself staring down Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Riding atop the reindeer was none other than a very puffed up Peter the Santa Claus dressed in the traditional red suit and fluffy white trimmings. Remus opened his mouth and shut it again. And then opened it again. And shut it again.

He checked that the rest of the common room was empty before addressing the reindeer, or rather Prongs. "You're going to get caught someday." Prongs replied by blowing hot air at him.

"You've been very naughty," Peter rebuked, "I've taken all your presents and returned them. Except this one."

Remus grunted as a small, hard something landed on his chest. He grabbed it and held it up to his face. It was a small package wrapped up in blue paper with little silver snowflakes. A smile finally graced his face. Last year, they had all agreed to use that very wrapping paper and only write the name of the recipient. It allowed for some rather unflattering joke gifts with no one to blame for it, but they had also given Remus the best set of robes he had ever owned. It was hard to scold someone for spending so much money on him when he wasn't even sure he was angry at the right person.

"Fine," he said with fake irritation as he pulled the ribbon on his present. Inside, he found a small book titled _101 Ways To Get Back At Santa Claus_. He looked from the book back up at Peter, who wasn't looking back at all, but was instead sitting smugly atop Prongs. Remus turned to the first page.

1. Tickle his reindeers.

Well, if this was the only present he was getting, he had no choice but to follow its advice. "_Rictusempra_," he muttered, pointing his wand at the underside of Prongs. The effect was immediate and terrifying. Remus had barely enough time to roll away as Prongs bucked, throwing Peter on the ground. The stag rolled on the ground, only turning back into a human after he had overturned the coffee table.

Peter, meanwhile, was shouting after a Sirius who was laughing just as hard as if not harder than James. "I thought you gave me the lump of coal!"

* * *

><p>AN: Yes, I realize I'm a week later.

This was written for a challenge on HEX. I looked up full moons that happened around Christmas break, and it turns out 1977 saw a full moon on Christmas Day. I'm sure lots of people have used this plot point before, but I figured I didn't have much else to go on. Anyways, I was trying to make this a serious fic, but I think Sirius got the better of me. That rascal.

Also, special thanks to ghtenment for betaing.


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